Illuminated traffic sign



Nov. 11, 1924. 1,514,608

A. ELY

ILLUMINATED TRAFFIC 3 IGN Filed March 1, 1924 INVENTOR ATTORNEYSFatented Nov. 11, 1924;.

UNITED stares enses rarest crates.

ALFRED ELY, or ROSLYN, new roan.

ILLUMINATED TRAFFIC SIGN.

Application filedMarch 1, 192%. Serial NofGOtll'F.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, ALFRED ELY, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of Ros lyn, Long Island, New York, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Illuminated Trafiic Signs, of which. the folig is a specification.

My invention relates to illuminatedsigns, and particularly to signsintended to give traffic instructionshaving a directionalcharacteristic.

Examples of signs embodying my invention are shown in the accompanyingdrawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective of one form of sign; Fig. 2is a sectional view of the sign shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 8 is a sectionalplan View of the base; Fig. i is a detail section showing the manner inwhich the glass sides are held in place, and Fig. 5 is a side View of amodified arrangement.

Referring to the illustrative example shown in Figs. 1 to 4, 2 is a maincasing having rolled edges 3. In the particular form illustrated thecasing 2 has a pointed end 4. The opposite end may be closed in anydesired manner as by the removable door 5. V

Adjacent the pointed end a is a partition 6 which divides the body ofthe sign into two compartments. The sides of the sign consist of glassplates 7 which slide between the rolled edges 3 and the partition 6 andnear the door 5 are held in place by brackets S. Rods 9 are passedthrough the main casing 2 11s a means for supporting the sign.

Vithin the main casing are positioned two electric lamps 10 which areconnected in parallel to the electric circuit passing through fuses 11.Connected to the same circuit is an electric flasher 12 from which thecircuit passes to a lamp 13 which illuminates the small pointedcompartment formed in the point 4.

Running longitudinally along each side plate 7 is a band 14: whichpreferably is colored. In the present instance this zone is shown asred, with a narrow black stripe along each side; other colors can beused, but the band should be made, either by the use of a body color ora marginal stripe, to contrast with the adjacent portion of the sign.The portions of the plate 7 above and below the band 14 are paintedwhite or otherwise rendered translucent and on the surface are paintedtraffic instructions. Of course raised letters can be used in place ofpainted ones.

The white portion of the plate 7 ends at partition 6, and the portion ofthe plate 7 which forms the sides of'the small pointed compartment ispainted preferably the same color as the band 1 4; in this instance itis shown as painted red, bordered by a narrow black stripe. Theinterior'of the casing 2 and both'sides of the partition 6 arepreferably painted white to increase the illumination.

IVhen the electric current is turned on, the main compartment or portionof the sign will be permanently illuminated and will show a zone havinga transverse band which contrasts with the rest of the zone and willshow lettering adjacent this band. When the lamp 13 lights, the smallcompartment will be illuminated and the corresponding end of plate 7will shine out in the form of an arrow-head, thus attracting particularat tention to itself and designating the direction referred to in thetrafiic instructions. In this example, the instructions consist of thewords One Way Street and the arrow is intended to be pointed in thedirection in which traific is allowed to pass.

I find it advantageous, though not always necessary, to illuminate thesmall compartment to a greater extent in proportion to its size than therest of the sign, so that when the pointed end flashes, particularattention will be attracted to that feature. For example if the sign isof the proportions shown, the lamps 10 and the lamp 13 can all be madewith the same candle-power, which will result in the small compartmentbeing the more brilliantly illuminated.

By this arrangement I provide a sign which can easily be read either inthe daytime or at night and which at night attracts attention to itselfby the fact that a portion flashes, and in particular attracts attentionto that portion which indicates the directional characteristic of thetraffic instruction.

In the form of device shown in Fig. 5 the casing 2 is made rectangularand is divided into three compartments by the partitions 6 and 6". Inthis arrangement there are two bands 14: corresponding to the singleband 14; described above, but the portion of the glass plates coveringthe two end sec tions are painted black, except that each has twoportions painted the same color as the lmndsJ/lone-such portion definingan; arrow-head and the other portion defining the tail of an arrow. Thisarrangement. is particularly useful for Sign. postswhelethei traflicinstructions in part have a directional characteristic in one Way andin-part-inan: other Way. As before, it is intended that the compartmentsdefining the arrow headsz.

shall be illuminated by lamps which will flash on and of?intermittently.

It is to be understood thatthe foregoingexamples are given by Way ofillustration only and, that many modifications may be made Withoutdeparting from thespirit of' my invention.

VVhatI claim is:

1. A traflic control sign comprising aw main compartment and an: end:compart ment, means for permanentlyilluminating;

the 1I=1ain= compartment; a translucent Wall for tlre maincompartmenthaving acontrasting band across it and traffic instructions letteredadjacent such band, means for intermittently illuminating the endcompartment, and a Window for the end compartment adapted to define anarrowhead so placed; that; when both said compartments are illuminated,said arrow-head and said band will form an arrow: to pointout. adirection referred to by said tratlic instructi0ns.

2. A sign as defined in claim 1 having an end compartment at each endofthe sign and having a plurality of bands across the main compartment,and said end compartments defining either an arrow+head or anarrow-tail. for. each band.

ALF-RED ELY.

